The present invention concerns installation and configuration of equipment and pertains particularly to visual feedback given when installing equipment.
For many users of equipment such as computer equipment, computer peripherals and networking systems, installation of the equipment can often be a time-consuming and frustrating endeavor. This can be especially true when equipment from different vendors is networked together. If the installation fails, it is often difficult to identify whether the failure results from defective equipment, incompatible equipment or faulty installation.
For example, when installing a network print server into a local area network (LAN), verification of correct installation and configuration of the printer server is generally accomplished by sending a test print job from a computer, connected to the LAN, through the LAN to a printer attached to the network print server. Successful printing of the print job verifies that installation and configuration is successful.
A disadvantage to this method of verifying correct installation and configuration of the printer server is that there is no feedback to the user until installation and configuration has been (or at least is thought to be) completed. Additionally, the feedback is, in a sense, all or nothing. If there is a failure, there is generally no indication why the failure took place. Troubleshooting, therefore, can be frustrating and difficult for a user.
Another method used to confirm status of a network print server is to manually press a button on the network print server to request a configuration page be printed from the attached printer. The configuration page typically contains information about hardware self-test status, network connection status and software configuration.
While this can sometimes be useful when troubleshooting a failed installation, this method still has some disadvantages. For example, when a user is performing an installation, there are many installation steps which do not change the status of the printer server and thus does not change the information printed on the configuration page. Thus even if a user uses this feature to monitor installation, the feedback could be misleading because the user might not be able to detect a change in status as the result of performing a particular installation step. In addition, the user would generally have to read the manual in order to recognize the existence of this feature and for information about how to correctly activate the feature.
Another method used to confirm status of a network print server is to utilize a software utility that displays status of configuration of the network print server on the network. Such a software utility would run on a computer attached to the local area network.
One disadvantage of such a software utility is that the network print server has to be properly configured to the network before the software utility can access the printer server for status information. Additionally, until a printer has been properly installed, the software utility is unable to provide a hard copy of any information to a user. When there is no printer available, the software utility can only provide status and error information on a terminal screen. Any useful error information to a user is temporary and generally ceases to be displayed as soon as a user acknowledges "OK" and thereby closes the message window. Thus a user would typically be required to copy down by hand any information from an error message, which he or she would want to refer to at a later time. The software utility, of course, would have full functionality once the printer server and associated printer were correctly installed, however, at this time obtaining installation information would be less urgent.